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KELLER'S TAKE
KELLER: Top ten omissions in the "Rise and Fall of WCW" DVD released by WWE today Aug 25, 2009 - 6:10:34 PM
10 - - Ed Ferrara. The documentary took plenty of digs at Vince Russo, but it never acknowledged that he had a writing partner in Ferrara who jumped with him from WWE to WCW.
9 - Mention of Bischoff being fired as V.P. and then later brought back "with Russo."
8 - The horrible "New Blood vs. Millionaire's Club" storyline.
7 - Good "Extras." The list of five little extras on this DVD given the rich potential of comments left on the cutting room floor was a big letdown.
6 - Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.
5 - The expansion of Nitro to three hours and the addition of Thunder watering down the product and overworking the creative staff.
4 - Bischoff's firing of Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman and it's effect on the loyalty Scott Hall and Kevin Nash felt toward Bischoff and WCW as a result. Nash outright admitted in a "Torch Talk" that he and Hall were much more tempted to be overtly selfish from that point on because they felt Bischoff really showed his true colors and betrayed a friend of theirs.
3 - Bischoff's falling out with Ric Flair, a central figure and cog in WCW's history whose misuse was as symptomatic of WCW's structural and leadership shortcomings as anything.
2 - Bret Hart. His botched push after jumping from WWE to WCW wasn't mentioned. He wasn't featured at all on the DVD. If there was a point where WCW could have slammed the door shut on WWE, it was when Bret jumped. It also happened to coincide with the worst of the political gamesmanship within, Bischoff losing control, and the expansion of two more prime time hours with Thunder which watered down a product already suffering creative burnout. Bret could have revived the promotion, and despite issues he had emotionally coming out of the whole Survivor Series controversy, the misuse of him as a result of political forces sabotaging him was too big of a story to ignore in any telling of the downfall of WCW.
1 - Goldberg's limitations as a performer. A lot of discussion went into people sabotaging Goldberg's push, but no time was spent acknowledging that he might not have been as well-rounded as, say, Steve Austin. Goldberg had a lot going for him, but to not acknowledge that Eric Bischoff had pushed someone to the moon who couldn't actually cut an effective promo or work a full-fledged PPV caliber match was a glaring omission. This idea that Goldberg was basically WCW's version of Steve Austin is totally unfair to Goldberg, who didn't have nearly the pedigree or experience to have that kind of pressure and expectations put on him, but it also totally overstates the effect the booking mistakes regarding Goldberg had on the demise of WCW.
VIP members read my in-depth lengthy rundown of the entire DVD documentary earlier today (including key quotes) along with a subsequent lengthy Keller Blog with tons of observations and comments about what was truthful, omitted, and politically suspicious about the contents of the DVD. To become VIP right now, click here
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AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
